Transport chiefs: We'll keep town on the road this winter

More than 7,000 tonnes of salt and grit is already in storage in preparation for any snow and ice over the coming months. And following last year's extreme weather the council has reviewed its gritting procedures to manage it more efficiently. This year the authority has put £1.1m into the winter maintenance budget - £215,000 more than 12 months ago.

Transport bosses are confident they will be able to cope with freezing conditions on the roads this winter.

More than 7,000 tonnes of salt and grit is already in storage in preparation for any snow and ice over the coming months.

And following last year's extreme weather the council has reviewed its gritting procedures to manage it more efficiently.

This year the authority has put £1.1m into the winter maintenance budget - £215,000 more than 12 months ago.

Coun Jacqueline Beswick, cabinet member for performance and partnerships, said: "It is vitally important to everybody we keep our key highways and services open, and the cabinet has diverted extra funding to support this.

"Impact Partnership and Balfour Beatty worked hard last year to ensure that our key highways network remained open despite the heavy snow and coldest December for at least 100 years and a national shortage of salt.

"Since the spring the Partnership has been consulting with stakeholders to develop a new Highways Winter Service Policy that will improve the service and make best use of the limited resources that are available.

"This is part of an integrated whole-council focus to make sure essential services can be maintained in difficult conditions."

David Nicholson, highways and engineering service director, said: "Over 7,000 tonnes of salt is already stored at our depot in Castleton, which is expected to be more than sufficient for even a severe winter, and we have contingency arrangements with suppliers if more is needed. We have carefully designed a network of treatment routes across the borough that will be serviced by Balfour Beatty’s workforce using seven gritting lorries.

"Rochdale’s geography makes snow and ice forecasting quite tricky, but we have been working closely with the Met Office to refine our methods. This should help us to better predict when routes need to be treated and optimise usage of our salt supply."

The council’s bin collection teams are also making preparations for winter and may be used to clear snow and ice if conditions become too treacherous.

Service director Mark Widdup said: "We will continue to provide essential services as far as possible but if prolonged snow conditions mean that it becomes too difficult or dangerous for our vehicles and staff to access areas to carry out those duties then they will be diverted to clearing snow and ice from pedestrian areas."

Two years ago the council admitted they were just hours away from completely running out of grit to spread on the roads.

And last December, the authority was forced to buy 3,000 tonnes of salt from Peru as grit levels once again fell.